Social Media

Bebo Minicards Launched

While over on Bebo checking out the new Slide.com guestbooks, I spotted an announcement for Bebo Minicards, from the printing startup Moo. Moo first attracted blogger love back in September 2006 with the launch of their Flickr Minicards - Flickr users can convert their shots into a box of 100 printed photo cards for $19.99. Moo has also produced Skype Minicards in the past, although that promotion is coming to an end.

The Bebo Minicards, which went live on Wednesday according to the Moo crew, allow users to print 100 cards of their Bebo photos, plus text and other add-ons, for $14.99. Taking into account Bebo's popularity in the UK, the price in UK pounds seems to take center stage. Moo has its own Bebo profile, of course, and utilizes Bebo's photo feature to show off the product. What's more, they're giving away a set of 10 free Minicards to every Beboer to promote the service.

Moo's strategy reminds me of Qoop, the photo printing service that has partnerships with virtually every major social site - Facebook, Webshots, Photobucket and many more. In many ways, there are parallels between these printing companies and the widget providers - all of them rely on the branding power and audience of the big social sites. Even so, I don't envy anyone running a real world business like printing, where exponential growth isn't so easy to achieve.

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